This week, Cook County became the first county in the nation to shut down its gang database--a tool that has long been used to criminalize low-income communities of color.

Working with bold organizations like Organized Communities Against Deportation (OCAD) and the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council from the Erase the Database campaign, we led the charge to not only take the database offline but to set up guidelines for the destruction of its contents. Cook County will be first county in the country to hold public hearings on the long-term impact of the database: how people were placed on it, how law enforcement used it, and how to ensure that Cook County data is not used by other agencies in the future.

As part of the United Working Families Elected Official Chapter, we'll be sharing our experiences with our sisters and brothers on City Council and in the state legislature to advance a united front in the fight against policies that starve Black and Latinx communities of the opportunity to thrive.

Please join us in sharing the press coverage of this victory on Facebook and Twitter, and in thanking the fierce organizations whose leadership made this possible:

Commissioner Alma Anaya speaking at a press conference to #ErasetheDatabase. Commissioner Anaya introduced the ordinance to stop the gang database in her first month in office. Picture from the Chicago Sun-Times.